1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for the solidification of a doped electrically conducting material and for continuously monitoring the dopant content of the material.
The invention is applicable in crystallogenesis for any growth of a doped inorganic, semiconductive or conductive monocrystal. Conductive materials are more particularly metallic materials.
The apparatus according to the invention is also applicable to metal alloys, e.g., to superalloys based on Ni, Cu or Zn.
The dopant can be an impurity introduced into the crystal (of phosphorus or boron in a silicon crystal, gallium in a germanium crystal, iron in a GaAs crystal, etc.) or a substitution element (e.g., indium in a Ga.sub.1-x In.sub.x Sb crystal with 0&lt;x.ltoreq.1, mercury in a Cd.sub.1-y Hg.sub.y Te crystal with 0&lt;y.ltoreq.1). Moreover, the dopant can represent 0.01 to 99.99% by weight of the crystal.
The invention is also applicable e.g., in metallurgical fields to the production of any alloy whose properties (mechanical, thermal and electrical) are dependent on the fine structure of said alloy and in the fields of microelectronics, integrated optics, crystal lasers, etc.